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CHAPTER-6

RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005

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Right To Information Act, 2005

Introduction: Since independence, India has grown, economy has boomed and people
have benefited. At the same time, the government functioning also needed change to keep
pace with changing times and fulfill the aspirations of people, empowering them to drive
the government machinery in their best interest. It is a well accepted fact that how strong
is the red tapism in our country, officials exploiting ignorance of citizens often taking
shield of provisions of various acts, regulations such as official secret act, Indian
Evidence Act etc. In June 2005, India enacted the RTI Act to overcome such issues. This
write up gives an overview of the salient aspects of this act.

Learning Objectives:
Understand objectives of RTI Act
Understand Implementation machinery
Learn the Process to get information
Understand Salient provisions of the Act

Objectives of RTI Act:

1. Make government machinery Accountable
2. Contain Corruption
3. Promote Transparency
Objective of this act is to give a simple tool to Indian citizens to obtain information from
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government machinery in a time bound manner. This act overrides all previous acts
wherever conflict is found. Any citizen of India (applicant) can seek information of
public interest from all covered central and state government units.

Implementation Machinery:
Public Authority: Under this act a concept of Public Authority has been introduced. All
government owned departments, organizations, PSUs and NGOs substantially financed
are called Public Authorities under this act and have to comply with its provisions. Each
Public Authority has to designate following in its organization for implementing the Act:
Central units are called CPAs and state units as SPAs. Public Authorities are required to
disclose certain information to public suo motto at regular intervals. This directive covers
budget, expenditure, salary of employees, subsidies, acts/rules/norms followed by PA for
discharge of its duties etc.

PIO: Public Information Officer is the most important functionary under this act. The job
entrusted is to receive RTI applications, process them and dispose such applications by
supplying or denying information as per provisions of this Act. Central PIO are called
CPIO and state as SPIO. PIOs decision which is based on application of provisions of this
Act may lead to supply of full, partial or no information.

APIO: Assistant Public Information Officer has the task of receiving RTI
requests/appeals and forwarding such cases to appropriate authority. Central and state
APIOs are called CAPIO and SAPIO respectively.

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Appellate Authority: PIO is the first level of decision making authority to supply/deny
information. An aggrieved applicant can file appeal to an officer senior in rank to PIO
designated as Appellate authority. Appellate authority has to decide the case in 30-45
days time.

Information Commission (IC): Besides above functionaries, for monitoring

implementation and ensuring compliance to the provisions of Act besides acting as
second level of grievance handling, Information Commission has been created at center
and all state levels. Applicants aggrieved at the decisions of Appellate authority are
allowed to approach respective information commission for resolution of
appeals/complaints.
Information : means any material in any form including records, documents, memos, emails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports,
papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information
relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority.
Applicant has been given the right to (i) inspect works, documents, records.
(ii) take notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records.
(iii) take certified samples of material.
(iv) obtain information in form of printouts, diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in
any other electronic mode or through printouts

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Process to get information:

Any applicant can submit application on plain paper to PIO or APIO. No reason for
seeking information needs to be specified in the application. The name and contact details
of applicant, addressed Public Authority and detail of information sought in the
application are sufficient to seek information.

Applicant is required to pay the fee as prescribed. For Central Government

Departments, it is Rs 10. However, different states have prescribed different fee. Cost
of information is also charged. For getting information, one has to pay Rs 2 per page
of information provided for Central Government Departments. It is different for
different states. Similarly, there is a fee for inspection of documents. There is no fee
for first hour of inspection, but after that, one has to pay Rs. 5 for every subsequent
hour or fraction thereof. Applicant can deposit fee either in cash or through a DD or
bankers cheque or postal order drawn in favor of that public authority. Applicant can
seek review of the decision on fees charged by the PIO by applying to the appropriate
Appellate Authority. No fees is charged from people living below the poverty line
Applicant must be provided information free of cost if the PIO fails to comply with the
prescribed time limit.

APIO has to forward all requests/appeals within five days to appropriate authority. PIO is
given 30 days to process and dispose the application. PIO collects sought information
from concerned sections (called as custodians of information) and disposes the
application by applying various provisions of the act. The act specifies category of
information which is exempted from disclosure.

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Salient aspects
Exempted information: It includes pertaining to National security, parliament
privileges, fiduciary nature, cabinet papers, commercial confidence, trade secrets, any
information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any
person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law
enforcement or security purposes; information which would impede the process of
investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders; etc. Even exempted
information can be disclosed if public interest over weighs the secrecy benefits. Certain
organizations dealing with intelligence and security are also broadly exempted. However
corruption and human right violation cases of such agencies are not exempted from
information disclosure. Such information is disclosed with the consent of concerned IC.

Time lines to get the information

1. 30 days from the date of application
2. 48 hours for information concerning the life and liberty of a person
3. 5 days shall be added to the above response time, in case the application for
information is given to Assistant Public Information Officer.
4. If the interests of a third party are involved then time limit will be 40 days
(maximum period + time given to the party to make representation).
Failure to provide information within the specified period is a deemed refusal.

Penalty: Every PIO will be liable for fine of Rs. 250 per day, up to a maximum of Rs.
25,000/-, for
i. not accepting an application;

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ii. delaying information release without reasonable cause;

iii. malafidely denying information;
iv. knowingly giving incomplete, incorrect, misleading information;
v. destroying information that has been requested and
vi. obstructing furnishing of information in any manner.
The Information Commission (IC) at the Centre and the State levels has the power to
impose this penalty. The Information Commission can also recommend disciplinary
action for violation of the law against an erring PIO. For the purpose of penalty, concept
of deemed PIO is used. Deemed PIO is the person responsible for delay or with holding
of information and the onus of proving it lies on PIO.

Status in BSNL: Initially BSNL designated Appellate, PIO and APIO at corporate office
and all Circles with all SSAs designating APIOs. Progressively PIO and Appellate
officers are being designated in SSAs also. BSNL has also put mandatory information on
its website www.bsnl.co.in The list of BSNL PIOs/APIOs is also available on website.

References: More information can be had on www.cic.gov.in and www.rti.gov.in

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